Second Battle of the Isonzo

The Second Battle of the Isonzo was fought between the armies of the Kingdom of Italy and of Austria-Hungary in the Italian Front in World War I, between 18 July and 3 August 1915.

Overview

After the failure of the First Battle of the Isonzo, two weeks earlier, Luigi Cadorna, commander-in-chief of the Italian forces, decided for a new thrust against the enemy lines with a heavier artillery support.

General Cadorna's tactics were as simple as they were harsh: after a heavy artillery bombardment, his troops were to advance frontally against the Austrian trenches and take them, after having overcome their barbed-wire fences. The insufficiency of war material – from rifles, to artillery shells to shears to cut the barbed wire – nullified their numerical superiority caused by the recent arrival of 290,000 Italian soldiers.

The battle

On the Karst Plateau took place an exhausting series of hand-to-hand fights involving the Italian Second and Third Armies, with severe casualties on both sides. Bayonets, swords, knives, and various scrap metal and debris were all used in the terrifying melee. The Hungarian 20th division lost two-thirds of its effectives and was routed, partly because of the successive attacks and partly because of the unfavourable terrain.

On 25 July the Italians occupied the Cappuccio Wood, a position south of Mount San Michele, which was not very steep but dominated quite a large area including the Austrian bridgehead of Gorizia da Sud. The Mount San Michele was briefly held by Italian forces, but a desperate counterattack by Colonel Richter, commanding a group of elite regiments, recaptured it.

In the northern section of the front, in the Julian Alps, the Italians managed to conquer Mount Batognica over Kobarid, which had an important strategic meaning in the next battles.

The battle wore out on its own when both sides ran out of ammunition for both light arms and artillery. The total casualties during the three weeks were about 91,000 men, of which 43,000 Italians and 48,000 Austro-Hungarians.

See also

• First Battle of the Isonzo – 23 June 1915 – 7 July 1915
• Third Battle of the Isonzo – 18 October 1915 – 3 November 1915
• Fourth Battle of the Isonzo – 10 November 1915 – 2 December 1915
• Fifth Battle of the Isonzo – 9 March 1916 – 17 March 1916
• Sixth Battle of the Isonzo – 6 August 1916 – 17 August 1916
• Seventh Battle of the Isonzo – 14 September 1916 – 17 September 1916
• Eighth Battle of the Isonzo – 10 October 1916 – 12 October 1916
• Ninth Battle of the Isonzo – 1 November 1916 – 4 November 1916
• Tenth Battle of the Isonzo – 12 May 1917 – 8 June 1917
• Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo – 19 August 1917 – 12 September 1917
• Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo – 24 October 1917 – 7 November 1917 also known as the Battle of Caporetto

External references

• The Second Battle of the Isonzo, 1915 at FirstWorldWar.com
• FirstWorldWar.Com: The Battles of the Isonzo, 1915–17
• Battlefield Maps: Italian Front
• 11 battles at the Isonzo
• The Walks of Peace in the Soča Region Foundation. The Foundation preserves, restores and presents the historical and cultural heritage of the First World War in the area of the Isonzo Front for the study, tourist and educational purposes.
• The Kobarid Museum (in English)
• Društvo Soška Fronta (in Slovenian)
• Pro Hereditate – extensive site (in En/It/Sl)